Benjamin H. Vandervoort, Retired Colonel, 75

AP

Published: November 22, 1990

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C., Nov 21—
Benjamin Hayes Vandervoort, a retired Army colonel whose exploits in the D-Day invasion were chronicled in the movie "The Longest Day," died Sunday at a nursing home here from the effects of a fall. He was 75 years old.

On June 6, 1944, Colonel Vandervoort, then a lieutenant colonel, parachuted into France with the 82d Airborne Division in the invasion that led to the end of World War II in Europe.

He broke his leg in the jump, but ordered a medical aide to lace his boot tightly so he could keep fighting a German counterattack on the Allied forces landing on Normandy beaches. He used a cane to stay in combat until the beachhead was secure.

Colonel Vandervoort, who had lived on Hilton Head Island for 23 years, is survived by his wife, Nedra, a son, a daughter and two grandchildren.